Sewage system



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sh'eet 1'.

B. O. TILDEN.

I SEWAGE SYSTEM.

No. 552,677. Patented Jan. '7, 1896.

Fig; 1.

h By Jul! u ttori ey,

NORM EGRAIIAM.PHOTO'UTHOWASHINGTON. (LC

2 N E D L T O B SEWAGE SYSTEM.

Patented Jan. '7, '1896.

ANDREW IGRANAM,PHOTD-LH'HQWASKINGTDKDL UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BERT O. TILDEN, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

SEWAGE jSYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 552,677, dated January 7, 1896.

Application filed March 8, 1895.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BERT O. TILDEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewage Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a ventilated sewage system for house-drainage.

It will be remembered that in sewage or drainage systems of this class having the usual soil-pipes or main sewage-conductors, fixture-traps and connections, some of which employ ventilating-pipes in communication with the soil -pipes and fixture -traps, the fluid normally contained in the trap for sealing said trap against the influx of noxious gases from the soil-pipe is frequently forced entirely out of said trap, owing to the considerable vacuum created by the sudden dis charge of a body of water or sewage into the soil-pipe, this allowing a free passage for the escape of the obnoxious gases from the soilpipe into and through the fixture-trap. This sewage-discharge, as is well known sometimes acts in the manner of a fluidplunger or piston to press the air forward of such fluid-plunger, and consequently creates a considerable vacuum immediately back of the fluid-plunger, thus producing such a degree of suction upon the end of the fixture-trap as will cause the pressure of the atm0sphere,acting through the fixture itself, to force the liquid entirely out of the trap.

By athorough investigation of housedrainage systems and from exhaustive experiments I have found that to positively prevent the siphoning of traps in branch sewage-conductors, which empty into a main sewage-conductor, it is not only necessary to normally maintain a liquid seal in each of the branch sewage-conductors between the receiving and discharging ends thereof, but it is an absolute necessity that a plenum of air be constantly maintained between the liquid seal and the discharge end of the branch sewage-conductor and also in the main sewage-conductor and that said plenum of air shall normally have a momentum sufficient to counteract the suction created by the descending fluid-plungerthat is, a body of water or fluid in the main Serial No. 51,007. (N0 model.)

sewage-conductor. To secure this end it is necessary that means he provided to eifect a constant circulation of said air under relatively high pressure through the branch sewage-conductors between the discharge end thereof and the liquid seal therein and through the main sewage-conductor and in the direction of the flow of the sewage.

By the provision of means, in connection with house-drainage systems, for constantly forcing a c0ntinuously-advancing'current of air of high initial velocity in and through a branch sewage-conductor at a point between the liquid seal and the discharge end of said main sewage-conductor in the direction of the flow of the sewage I am enabled, as herein after more fully described, to not only prevent the siphoning of the trap of the branch sewage-conductor, whichis usually caused by the suction of the rapidly-moving fluid-plunger, when said plunger is below the level of the trap, but will also prevent the backward displacement of the liquid seal toward the receiving end of the trap, which is frequently caused by the pressure of .air in advance of the descending fluid-plunger when said plunger is above the level of the trap.

No provision has been made, so far as I am aware, for creating a plenum of air in such ventilating apparatus and for maintaining a constant circulation of air through the ventilating apparatus and through the trap-outlet between the liquid seal and said.trapoutlet in the direction of the flowage of said trap and of sufficiently high initial velocity as to overcome the resistance of the gaseous fluids in the soil-pipe and to thereby produce, in effect, a constantly-maintained fresh-air seal between the liquid seal and the trap-outlet which would prevent the creation of a vacuum in the trap and effectually obviate the accidental siphoning of said trap, and would also prevent the outward escape of obnoxious gases through the trap.

I have by practical experiments with fullsized working drainage apparatuses demonstrated the fact that a ventilated drainage apparatus which depends for the circulation draft only, as in drainage apparatuses of usual branch sewa e-conductor and throu h the ICO of air upon atmospheric pressure or natural construction, is practically inadequate for wholly avoiding the escape of obnoxious gases from the soil-pipe outwardly through the fixture-trap, for the reason that the normal pressure of the air-current will be insufficient to overcome the resistance of the gases in the soil pipe. lonsequently such apparatus merely constitutes a ventilator for the discharge-pipes, and, while it may modify the vitiated condition of the gases, it cannot wholly prevent the escape of such gases through an emptied trap.

The object of my present invention is, primarily, to furnish an improved ventilated sewage or drainage apparatus having a suitable soil-pipe or main sewage-conductor and one or more sewage-traps or branch sewage-com ductors in communication with said soil-pipe and to provide a combined air-supply and Ventilatin g apparatus in connection with said soil -.pipe and fixture trap which shall be adapted for creating a fresh-air column or plenum of air of high initial momentum in and for effecting a circulation of said column through the trap-outlet and soil-pipe in the direction of the flow of the sewage, to thereby produce a constantly-moving fresh-air seal or sealing air-column of relatively high pressure intermediate to the trap-siphon and the trapoutlet, whereby said trap-outlet is at all times closed by said fresh-air seal against the admission of obnoxious gases from the soil-pipe, and whereby injurious suction in the trapoutlet is obviated and the accidental. siphoning of the trap is prevented.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a multiple-ventilated drainage apparatus embodying one form of my invention, said apparatus being shown in operative position in a house, which house. is shown in sectional side elevation, said figure showing two sets of fixtures connected at relatively different heights with the vertical soil-pipe and air-supply apparatus of said system. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of a portion of the ventilating drainage app ratus embodying a slight modification of my invention. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, on a relatively large scale, of a portion of the drainage apparatus which is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and shows one fixture-trap in connection therewith, a connecting-pipe for another fixture-trap being shown in dotted lines. Said figure. also shows in broken lines a plug or a body of water in the soil-pipe of said apparatus; and Figs. 4 and- 5 are side elevations, respectively, of modified forms of my improved ventilated drainage apparatus.

Like characters designate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

In the preferred embodiment of myinvention (most elaborately illustratedin Fig. 1 of the drawings) my improved ventilated sewage or drainage system comprises in part a vertically-d-isposed soil-pipe S, having a substantially horizontal or a horizontally-inclined ex tension S,which pipe constitutes the main sewage-conductor and which in practice will communicate with the street-sewage system, (not shown,) the upper end of the vertical soilpipe S preferably terminating in the outer atmosphere, one or more fixture-traps, as 2 3 and 41 5, each having a normally-maintained liquid seal to and each having dischargers or branch sewage-conductors, as 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively, in communication with the Vertical soil-pipe at different points in the length thereof, and a combined ventilating and airsupplying apparatus in connection with said soil-pipe and trap-fixtures and adapted for creating a forced circuitous air supply through said soil-pipe and fixture-traps, all of which will be hereinafter more fully described.

In practice the combined ventilating and air supplying apparatus which constitutes part of my improved house sewage or drainage system will, in the form thereof shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, comprise a vertically-disposed air-conduit or supply-pipe P, communicating at its upper end, which is the inlet or receiving end, directly or indirectly with the outer atmosphere, and communicating at its lower end,which is the outlet or discharge end,

with the soil-pipe, a series of short-circuiting air-feeders or transmission-conduits 2", 3", 1', and 5", in communication with the air-supply pipe and with the branch sewage-conductors 2, 3, 4t, and 5 of the fixture-traps 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively, at points between the liquid seal w and the discharge ends of said branch sewage-conductors, and an exhaust apparatus (designated in a general way by E) in communication with the soil-pipe extension S at a point in advance of or below the terminal of the air-supply pipe P, and adapted by forced draft for creating a plenum of air in the supply-pipe P of relatively high initial velocity, to thereby produce Ventilating and trap-sealing air-columns between the liquid seal to and the discharge ends of the branch sewage-conductors which shall have at all times an interrupted circuitous movement through the supply-pipe, branch sewage-conductors, and soil-pipe, and in the direction of the flow of the sewage, the direction of flowbeing indicated by arrows in Fig. 3.

In the drawings I have shown two forms of exhaust apparatus in connection with the airsupply apparatus and adapted for effecting a forced draft in the said air-supply apparatus of sufficient magnitude as tosecure a relatively high initial momentum to the air in the direction of the normal flow of the sewage, which will raise the normally lowpressure of the air and thereby create a plenum of air in each of the branch sewage-conductors between the discharge end thereof and the liquid seal 10, adapted (owing to its increased pressure) for balancing the suction in the soil-pipe 'and for instantaneously replacing the air displaced in the drain-trap dischargers by the overflow of said trap. I a i The exhaust apparatus in the form shown in Fig. 1 consists of a draft-pipe D communicating with some part of the soil-pipe intermediate to the siphon-trap 6-thereof and the air-supply apparatus extension S,through the medium of a Y connection 7 of any suitable sanitary form, and an appliance for heating the pipe so as to rarefy the air therein to produce the requisite forced draft. In ordinary practice, and as illustrated in Fig. 1, this appliance will consist of the housechimney 8, and the draft-pipe will be ex tended for a considerable portion of its length within the chimney-flue, so as to be heated by the hot gases passing up through the chimney-flue.

It is desired to state, in the above connection,that various kinds of apparatus other than that shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings might, within the scope and limits of my invention," be employed in connection with the air-supply apparatus for creating a forced draft within the air-supply apparatus.

In some cases,.and more especially with very extensive house sewage or drainage sys tems for equipping hotels, apartment houses, &c., it may be deemed expedient or desirable to employ other means for effecting a more voluminous draft in the air-supply apparatus than could be effected by the draft apparatus shown by Fig. 1 of the drawings; and for this purpose an exhaust-fan such, for instance, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawingsor other well-known apparatus adapted for creating a relatively strong draft might be employed in lieu of the draft apparatus shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. a

The soil-pipe S and its extension will usually be constructed in sections, and may,*in a general way, be similar to any ordinary soil-pipe or drainage-pipe, the extension S thereof having near its discharge end the usual siphon-trap 6, adapted for protecting the house system from the gases of the streetsewage system, the vertical portions of the soil-pipe having, at requisite points in the length'thereof suitable inlet connections 9 for the dischargers of the several trap-fixtures, as will be readily understood by reference to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings.

In Figs. 1, 4, and 5 of the drawings I have shown two sets of fixtures connected with the vertical soil-pipe S, at difierent points in the height thereof, and each set of fixtures is shown as comprising a closet-bowl p and a bath-tub 25, each of which has connected therewith a siphon-trap having the usual liquid seal to therein, the two traps of the two fixtures having dischargers in communication with the vertical soil-pipe S through the inlet connections thereof, at relatively different points in the length of said soilpipe. The two fixtures of the upper set of fixtures are designated by 2 and 8, respectnated by 4 and 5, respectively.

p The air-conduit or supply-pipe P, which, in the form thereof herein shown in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, extends along one side of the vertical soil-pipe S in parallelism therewith, has a series of short-circuiting trap-feeders or transmission-conduits 2", 3", 4, and 5, connected with the dischargers 2 3, 4, and 5 of the traps 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively, intermediate to the siphons of said traps and the inlets of the vertical soil-pipe S.

In practice, and as shown in the drawings, the air-feeders 3 and 5 will usually constitute extensions of, but will be of reduced capacities relatively to the main feeders 2 and 4, respectively; but it will be obvious that a multiplicity of traps a separate air-feeder may be provided for each trap.

The air-supply pipe P will ordinarily, as shown in Fig. 1, extend, at its upper end, through the roof of the building B, and will be open to the atmosphere, as will also be the soil-pipe S, so that both said pipes will have an equal free-air inlet. 1 supply pipe P will be enlarged at its upper end, so as to correspond in diameter to the diameter of the soil-pipe S. This construc tion provides for a free inlet of air into each pipe, and also guards against the closing of the pipes by freezing of condensation in the pipes.

In some cases it may be desirable to enlarge the inlet end of the soil-pipe and effect a communication between this enlarged end of the soil-pipe and the upper or inlet end ofthe air supply pipe, as shown in Fig. 2.

The air-supply pipe P will ordinarily comively, and those of the lower set are desigwhere air-supply connections are made with In practice the air-' municate with the soil-pipe S at a point below tem, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

I do not desire to limit myself to the particular constructions and arrangements of airsupply apparatus which are shown in Fig.1 of the drawings, as these may be variously modified within the scope and limits of myinvention.

' In Fig. 5 of the drawings I have shown the soil-pipe and air-supply pipe of the drainage system as a unitary structure, with means, in connection therewith, for effecting a forced draft in said pipe, the short-circuiting airfeeders for the fixture traps, in this instance, having their receiving ends in communication with the combined air and soil pipe.

As in ordinary house-sewage systems the several traps 2, 3, 4, and 5 are normally sealed against the escape of gases from the soil-pipe means for protecting the liquid seal, and also for creating a constantly-effective fresh-air IIO cates with the lowest fixture trap of thesysseal intermediate to the liquid seal and soilpipe, so as to prevent the escape of obnoxious gases through the trap when the liquid seal has been discharged, a continuously advancing current of air, maintained at a relatively high initial velocity, is forced through said trap or branch sewage-conductor interme diate of said liquid seal and a soil-pipe or main sewage-conductor and into said main sewage-conductor in the direction of the flow of the sewage.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a house-sewage system, in combination, a main-sewage conductor having its upper inlet-end open to the outer atmosphere; a branch-sewage conductor in communication with the main-sewage conductor, and having a normally liquid-sealed trap; an air-conduc-' tor communicating directly with the branchsewage conductor at a point between the discharge-end of said conductor and the liquidseal; and an exhaust apparatus in direct communication with the main-sewage conductor at a point in advance of and below the airconductors, and adapted for continuously advancing an air-current through said branchsewage conductor at a point between the liquid-seal and the discharge-end of said branchsewage conductor, and into and through the in ain-sewage conductor in the direction of the flow of the'sewage, and for simultaneously imparting a relatively-high velocity to said continuously-advancing current of air, to thereby create a plenum of air between the liquid seal and the discharge end of the branch-sewage conductor and in said mainsewage conductor having sufficient momentum to overcome the suction created in the main-sewage conductor by falling substances, and thereby prevent accidental siphoning of the trap, substantially as described.

2. In a house-sewage system, the combination with a sewage-conductor having its upper inlet-end open to the outer atmosphere; and with a fixture-trap having its dischargeend in communication with the main-sewage conductor, and having a normally-main.- tained liquid-seal; of an air-supply pipe located at one side of the main-sewage conductor, and having its upper inlet-end open to the outer atmosphere, and having its lower discharge-end terminating in the main-sewage conductor; a short-circuiting air-feeder communicating at one end with the air-supply pipe, and communicating at the opposite end thereof with the branch-sewage conductor between the liquid-seal and the discharge-end of said sewage-con ductor 5 and an exhaust apparatus in direct communication with the main-sewage conductor at a point below and in advance of the terminus of the air-supply pipe, and adapted for continuously advancin g an air-current through the branch-sewage conductor at a point between the liquid-seal and the discharge-end of said conductor, and

also through the air-pipe and the main-sewage conductor in the direction of the flow of the sewage, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

In a house-sewage system, the combination with the main-sewage conductor; of a branchsewage conductor having its discharge-end in communication with the mainsewage conductor; and means in connection with the main-sewage conductor, and adapted for creating and maintaining a plenum of air of high pressure in the branch-sewage conductor between the liquid-seal and the discharge-end of said branch-sewage conductor, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a house-sewage system, the combination with the main-sewage conductor; and with a series of successive, normally liquidsealed fixture-traps having discharge-ends in communication with said main-sewage conductor having its upper inlet-end open to the outer atmosphere; of an air-supply pipe located at one side of the main-sewage conductor, and having its upper inlet-end open to the outer atmosphere, and its lower dischargeend joining and terminating in said mainsewage conductor, and also having a series of successive, connected, short-circuited airfeeders of relatively and successivelyreduced capacities in communication with the successive fixture-traps, respectively, at points between the liquid-seals and the discharge-ends thereof; and an exhaust apparatus in communication with the main-sewage conductor at a point below and in advance of the terminal junction of the air-supply pipe, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

5. The herein-described method of controlling a house-sewage system of the class specified, which consists in draining a plurality of branch-sewage conductors into a m ain-sewage conductor; normally maintaining a liquid seal in each of said branch-sewage conductors; continuously forcing a current of air at a relatively-high velocity into and through said branch-sewage conductors at points between the liquid-seals and the discharge-ends of the branch-sewage conductors and into and through themain-sewage conductor, and in the direction of the flow of the sewage, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

6. The herein'described method of controlling a house-sewage system having a mainsewage conductor, and one or more branchsewage conductors in communication with said main-sewage conductor, which consists in normally maintaining a liquid-seal in each of said branch-sewage conductors, and rapidly and continuously advancing a current of air through said branch-sewage conductor at a point between the liquid-seal and the dischargeend of each of the branch-sewage conductors, and into and through the main-sewage conductor in the direction of the flow of age in the main-sewage conductor, and pie the sewage, and to thereby create a plenum vent the creation of a Vacuum in the branch of air in the branch-sewage conductors besewage conductor, substantially as described. IO tween the liquid-seal and the discharge-end 5 of said sewage-conductors, having, normally, Witnesses:

a momentum sufficient to counteract the suc- FRANCIS I-I. RICHARDS, tion created by a falling body of Water or sew- FRED. J. DOLE.

BERT O. TILDEN. 

